


The Guardian Angel of Metropolis

by Starfire (kalypsobean)



Category: Ame-Comi Girls
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-18
Updated: 2013-12-18
Packaged: 2018-01-05 02:04:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,945
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1088319
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kalypsobean/pseuds/Starfire
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Metropolis Citizens' Reclamation Project has been responsible for much of the rebuilding since the Banshee Attacks and the advent of Power Girl. In this special feature, Lois Lane speaks with the woman behind the Project, Karen Kent.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Guardian Angel of Metropolis

**Author's Note:**

  * For [VampirePaladin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/VampirePaladin/gifts).



_This article was originally printed in the Daily Planet and is reproduced here with permission._

 

PART ONE:

Driving between just-tilled fields on a warm, clear day, one could believe that this is a farm like any other, a picturesque Midwestern idyll. One can taste the fresh, clean air that generally comes after a night of rain, imagine heads of corn swaying gently against bright blue skies, and conjure up an image of a weatherworn farmer coming in from a morning's work to meet his wife on the porch of their aged house. She would have freshly baked scones and coffee waiting for him, her apron smattered with flour and her cheeks flushed from the oven's heat.

In today's world, many would find it comforting to think that places like this still exist, trapped in a simpler time, but the illusion is shattered as we pass the barn and see Karen Kent waiting for us. Dressed in a grey skirt suit with a pastel pink camisole, her hair loose over her shoulders and her makeup impeccable, she waves and jogs out to meet the car. "Did you find it okay? Are you hungry? Ma made lemon cake."

This is the farm in Smallville, Kansas, where Karen grew up, and apparently, it hasn't changed at all. 

 

We are offered seats at the kitchen table and served cake and tea by Karen's mother, Martha, and are soon joined by her husband Jonathan. Jonathan is the farmer, but Martha is as put-together as her daughter. 

"As soon as we brought her home we knew she was special," says Martha, as she shares a look with her husband and smiles. They are clearly proud of their daughter, but unlike many parents, they don't bring out the photo album or show off a shelf filled with trophies. Jonathan speaks of how he diverts nearly half of his yield to his daughter, and how he was able to buy back the land that his father before him sold in order to make ends meet because of it. Karen watches us from the side of the room, where she leans against an antique cupboard, only speaking to add to her father's story. 

"I didn't singlehandedly save the farm, Pa," she says, but her father shushes her. 

"It's not just us, it's all the farms in the area; Karen's done wonders for the area." He offers to take us on a tour, but Martha reminds him that he still has work to do. "Another time," he says, and excuses himself. Martha follows, and we are left with Karen, who looks out of place, as if she has outgrown the place her parents keep for her. And in a way, she has.

 

She shows us to the lounge, curiously decorated with a mix of old furniture and up-to-date technology. It is now that the photo album comes out, and Karen talks us through the pictures of her younger self.

"This was all just an accident, really," she says. The early photos of her are blurry shots of rallies and protests. "I was just in a place where I could do something, and I did it." Her humbleness is refreshing in a person so confident and visible. "I try not to let the attention get to me," she says, and with a home like this, it is easy to see how she remains grounded. "People were hungry, and needed their homes and workplaces rebuilt. My father had more grain than he could sell, and I knew so many people out of work. Who wouldn't put them together?"

 

PART TWO:

Everyone remembers where they were when the first superheroes came. Many people have personal stories, such as seeing Power Girl in the sky as they ran from a falling building during the first wave of Banshee attacks, but Karen's is different. She shows us where it happened; now a construction site, it was previously a high-rise apartment building. She gets tears in her eyes as she looks at the site and has to excuse herself. We look at the plans while we wait.

"It's environmentally friendly and thirty percent more power efficient than similar older buildings," she says when she returns. "I hope that we can eventually make Metropolis the most environmentally conscious city in America." 

For the girl whose company revitalised our failing economy and gave hope to thousands of poverty-stricken citizens, it doesn't seem that impossible a dream. Indeed, having seen photos from that day and now seeing what has come from it, it could be considered a given that she will make it happen.

"I wasn't there at the time; I arrived after, meant to visit friends and instead found them on the street, covered in dirt and holding only a few of their things." This was the aftermath of one of Power Girl's first appearances, in which several buildings were damaged beyond repair and were afterwards condemned. Her friends, with hundreds of others, were suddenly homeless, and the existing structures were unable to cope. "I just called Ma and Pa and said we were having people to stay. We had more than enough food and a spare room."

It was from this one act of kindness to her friends that her charity grew into what it is today, a registered non-profit whose headquarters we are watching being built. The building will provide offices and homes for anyone displaced by the massive property damage, some of whom have been placed into temporary quarters and others who are on a waiting list. It is one of several similar structures being constructed around the city, along with parks and road upgrades. "We need to be a stronger city. They're not going away," she says, referring to the new class of criminal thought to have been behind the War. "And by being conscious of our surroundings and reducing our environmental impact, we can improve the quality of life for everyone."

That's not to say that there isn't every precaution being taken. The windows in these new buildings are a futuristic prism design, designed to maximise sunlight and therefore reduce the need for air conditioning. They are also made from high-grade bulletproof glass, the same found in the windows of the President's limousine.

"It's not enough just to give these people their lives back. We need to keep them safe."

 

PART THREE:

The temporary quarters for the Metropolis Citizens Reclamation Project are abuzz. Karen's office is a desk and portable computer behind a whiteboard. She smiles, but doesn't apologise. Space is at a premium and like everyone we are expected to understand and get our work done. The Project officially employs thirteen staff and there are volunteers who come in when they can. "We don't expect anyone to do anything they can't do," she says about the apparent lack of organisation around schedules. "These people have to deal with social services, housing appointments, and job seeking. We give them work experience, a place to go if they need to get away, or a purpose. Any or all of that, and even just free coffee and friendship." It is this sort of sentiment that shows how the Project developed from that one first act of kindness. We are interrupted as Karen signs some papers delivered by a harried-looking boy no older than sixteen. 

 

She takes us to a coffee shop to finish the interview. "We actually started right here," she says. After her friends were able to find places to stay in the city they came back, and so did Karen. "People didn't know what to do; we were cut off from everyone, and the social services were so busy that they just seemed to give up, and so many people were hurting." She called on her parents again, and the parents of some of her school friends. It was then that she remembered that some of her friends from school had also been suffering, but not from the attacks and their after-effects. "The economy was already rough, and these people didn't have jobs. I knew them, and they were good people, just unlucky." She drove down to Smallville and filled her boot with donations of food, and brought back three of her friends. "It was just a big adventure, like we were on a road trip."

But she kept doing it, and soon people were coming to her to offer their help, and to ask for it. "I was just in the right place at the right time for so many people, and it got to the point where we had to make it official just to keep track of everything." The Project incorporated last year and has the lowest overhead of any registered charity. "We coordinate, we don't run things, so we can get the donations to where they need to go." They also lobbied for subsidies for farmers who gave their produce to the food banks and charities, and won them. This is how Karen's father received the money to buy back his farm. "We did a lot of things that we didn't expect to," she says. "It was the only way we could ensure that the food kept coming."

 

PART FOUR:

There is one stop left on our itinerary: Karen's Metropolis apartment. Miraculously it has avoided any damage, despite being on the eighteenth floor of a high-density residential area. It is sparsely decorated; there are a few items that could have come from her Smallville room and several boxes of what look to be computer parts, but the furniture is clearly functional and not ornate. "I don't spend much time here," she says. "I just watch the news and sleep, and have breakfast." Much of her role is now about connecting people, so her lunch and dinner are often had in meetings, whether they are with politicians, people who need help, or potential donors. 

The only hints of her new life in her apartment are souvenirs. She has prints of the first pictures of Power Girl on her wall along with pictures of the destruction. "They remind me why I do what I do," she says when I comment on them. "I don't think she meant for all this to happen." 

She hasn't met Power Girl, she says, although she smiles when I ask. "We do get some anonymous donations, and I like to think that she does what she can. When she doesn't have other things to deal with, of course." And of the violently negative reactions that followed after Power Girl's first appearance, when a lot of the damage was done? "If she didn't step in, things would be as bad or worse for a lot of people here, even if their homes were still there." It is here that some of the whimsical country creeps back into her city-girl facade, and I see a glimpse of the girl she might have once been, back in Smallville. "If those criminals were still on the streets, those same people would be unhappy and struggling but now they have safe homes and enough food. It's terrible how much was lost, but most people have been able to move on. The future looks better for a lot of people now." 

 

Karen is standing by French doors that lead out to a small balcony. As she points out areas where people have regrouped and built themselves new communities and new lives, it is easy to see her as a protector, watching out for the people who have come to her in the last two years.

"That's silly," she says. "I just do a little bit, the same as everyone else."

 

_\-- Lois Lane. Additional reporting by Jimmy Olsen._

**Author's Note:**

> This is an AU based on one of the ideas in VampirePaladin's request for Yuletide 2013 - what if Power Girl had to have a secret identity? In this version of events, riots and an extremely negative public reaction as a result of the significant property damage done to Metropolis when Power Girl defeated the Silver Banshees forced her underground. In order to help rebuild Metropolis, she started a charity to help people find jobs and food, and now the world knows her as Karen Kent, chair of the Metropolis Citizens' Reclamation Project, although she is still significantly active as Power Girl.


End file.
